Hello! I want to introduce myself - I was originally 'nevaehsmom' on here but screwed up and somehow had my first and last name, which was part of my email address, in my signature. Yadda yadda yadda I googled my name and there all my posts were! So here I am again, a brand new person!

A little background - my daughter is 2 (nov 07 baby) and at 11 months we determined, through the help of our allergist (skin prick testing only) that she was allergic to dairy. At 16 months, skin prick test again, revealed she's also allergic to egg and peanuts.

We finally had her first blood tests done in February and just got the results today. She is > 0.35 for dairy!! So, non-allergic we hope and we can now introduce it to her diet. According to the nurse, we're to put it in baking first (half dairy half soy...wonder how that will taste?) and then gradually increase it to full dairy in baking if she's not reacting.

Then things like cheese/yogurt, and then finally actually (lactose-free because it's hard on her tummy to start) milk. Very exciting stuff and I'm eager to start of course.

Eggs is 0.68 and peanuts 0.65 so both relatively low. We'll do eggs in baking down the road once dairy is clear and then were told no actual egg on its own until her next blood tests in a year. Peanuts we won't even discuss until she's 5.

So...all good news, but I'm just a little cautious on where to start with the dairy. Pancakes maybe? And what about foods like crackers, etc that have dairy in the ingredients? Should I try those now (presuming they were baked in?) or wait.

Did you do an initial challenge in the Dr's office with the baked egg and now will you with the baked milk? The way your post is worded, it sounds like you are starting this at home...siomething my allergist would never recommend.

My new allergist would actually have had our son try eggs at home (in tiny amounts at first) if his recent skin test results had been lower. Sadly, the skin test indicated that there was too much of a risk of a reaction. But just before the skin test, the allergist told us that we could have started out with 1 egg per 12 muffins - that kind of thing - so that the amount ingested was relatively minor.

If the allergist has told you to try milk at home, that is also what I would try - make muffins or similar with a very small amount of milk in the mix, and then give the child a very small amount of the muffin, and observe. If things go okay, you could continue to give small amounts, and then build it up from there. Of course, you have to be mentally ready for a reaction, and not hesitate to give the EpiPen if this is warranted. And you have to realize that your child might be okay with baked goods with milk in it but not with uncooked milk, etc. I would definitely take things slow.

Some allergists are extremely cautious, but I have had at least 3 allergist have my kids try allergens that they have outgrown at home (including wheat, some legumes, and some tree nuts). For peanuts, my oldest son did a challenge for in the allergist's office. Same for green peas - but that was at my request. Otherwise the allergist was ready to have us try them at home too.

So from my experience, it seems to depend on the allergist and the allergen.

Our local allergy group is fortunate to have one of our local allergists speak each year with our group. Her recommendation for those reintroducing egg is to use 1 egg for 12 muffins, well-baked for 20 minutes at 350 F. We did not discuss milk. She said pancakes were not cooked long enough to safely reintroduce egg into the diet. So, "well-baked" means in the oven at 350 for minimum 20 minutes (according to this allergist).

My new allergist would actually have had our son try eggs at home (in tiny amounts at first) if his recent skin test results had been lower. Sadly, the skin test indicated that there was too much of a risk of a reaction. But just before the skin test, the allergist told us that we could have started out with 1 egg per 12 muffins - that kind of thing - so that the amount ingested was relatively minor.

If the allergist has told you to try milk at home, that is also what I would try - make muffins or similar with a very small amount of milk in the mix, and then give the child a very small amount of the muffin, and observe. If things go okay, you could continue to give small amounts, and then build it up from there. Of course, you have to be mentally ready for a reaction, and not hesitate to give the EpiPen if this is warranted. And you have to realize that your child might be okay with baked goods with milk in it but not with uncooked milk, etc. I would definitely take things slow.

Some allergists are extremely cautious, but I have had at least 3 allergist have my kids try allergens that they have outgrown at home (including wheat, some legumes, and some tree nuts). For peanuts, my oldest son did a challenge for in the allergist's office. Same for green peas - but that was at my request. Otherwise the allergist was ready to have us try them at home too.

So from my experience, it seems to depend on the allergist and the allergen.

K.

But Karen, You and your children have had many years experience with anaphylaxis and howto deal with any reaction. The original poster's child is 2 years old and was diagnosed a little over a year ago...

Well, we introduced wheat when Xavier was 2, and barley when he was 3... To be honest, I'm not sure that past experience means much when introducing "outgrown allergens" (let's call them OAs) - you just have to do it, but obviously you have to keep your wits about you when you do it. And you do have to listen to your instincts - if it feels really wrong, don't do it. There's nothing wrong with waiting if you are willing to do what it takes to avoid the allergen. But you have to weigh the pros and cons: one one one hand, if you don't try, you avoid the stress of trying and/or having a reaction. On the other hand, if you don't try, you might end up avoiding something that your child is no longer allergic to.

I agree that it is nerve-wracking, but I do feel that you have to at least consider introducing OAs at some point if the allergist feels it is appropriate. If we had not introduced OAs, Xavier would still be avoiding wheat, barley, soy, and tree nuts, and Max would be avoiding some fish, some tree nuts, chick peas, green beans (which he loves) and peanuts. I am grateful that we got the go-ahead to try, proud that we had the courage to try, and grateful again that things worked out and that our long list of foods to avoid became a bit shorter.

I know that your experience has sort of been the opposite of ours, Susan, where your family has unfortunately seen your list of allergens increase rather than decrease, so I totally understand your point of view. It really can go either way, and it's impossible to predict how things will go. But if the allergist thinks a food has been outgrown... well, sometimes you have to trust them. And some kids do outgrow allergens at a very early age.

If someone is not comfortable introducing an OA at home, they could ask the allergist if they can do it in the office. That is what we did with green peas (legume), since Max had had a bad reaction to green beans (also a legume) earlier in life. He passed (although later said they made him feel sick, so he just doesn't eat green peas).

Also, if you are not sure exactly how to introduce an OA, I think you have the right to contact the allergist and ask for more explicit directions on how much to introduce, and in what amounts, baked vs. raw, etc. It shouldn't just be a free-for-all.

Every family is different and has different comfort levels with risk, and should do what feels right for them. It's true that our family's comfort level with trying new foods has changed a lot over the years, and that we are less risk-averse now. We are still very cautious with known allergens, but more willing to try OAs. And part of that is because we tried things that we'd previously been avoiding -- with the allergist's blessing, of course!

Good points Karen. I can see with OAS that this might be practical but with milk?

Hmmm, rereading the original post. Were all of these allergies diagnosed by skin test? What was her original reaction to? I suppose if she's never had a reaction but had tested positive and now was testing negative, introducing the food is one thing but if she was diagnosised with anaphylaxis allergies and is now doing anoral challenge at home with no medical supervision, well, that just goes against what I thought allergists were recommending. I see that Allergy Safe Communities no longer discuss challenges.

We have been in the process of moving the past week so I haven't at all touched on the idea of introducing any OA's here, so I'm still in the gathering-information stage. I suppose I should give you some background so you can better understand my situation, I really appreciate the advice from the allergy-mommy-experts here (although I'm sure you wish you never had that designation in the first place!)

My DD was a totally happy baby, some diarhea as a newborn but nothing that made my doctor consider an allergy (formula fed since birth). I used Nestle Good Start. At 7 months, I bought a different brand than my usual baby cereal (normally used Heinz and bought Nestle). Turns out the Nestle had some skim milk powder in it (nice eh?) and DD broke out in hives after feeding it to her. We were surprised since her formula was a dairy-formula though partially broken down dairy proteins. We had her tested for dairy allergy at 11 months, skin prick test, and the result was a huge hive (indication severe allergy according to the allergist?) He too was surprised since she was 'safely' consuming a dairy based formula for 11 months (he asked if he could use her info in a case study).

So - switched to a soy based formula at 11 months. At 16 months she developed hives again when eating scrambled eggs (this was probably the second time she'd had eggs, she didn't like them the first time we tried). Swollen lip too. Again, skin test was positive for allergy, though not as huge of a hive as the dairy allergy. I asked that she be tested for peanuts at this point which they did and surprise surprise, she tested positive for a peanut allergy. I had no reason to suspect a peanut allergy since she of course had not had peanuts up to that point. That is all she has been tested for since this allergist "does not like to test unneccesarily" which is kind of frustrating.

So, fast forward 1 year and in my first post I detailed our latest results. No allergy present for dairy now, and Level 1 for egg and peanut. We have only been given the green light to try baked-dairy-goods at home, no egg and definitely no peanut at this point. So I need to find some recipes that call for milk (I have avoided them so much I don't even know where to start). I won't consider egg for a long time yet, I need to deal with one thing at a time.

I hope that helps explain things better. Any and all advice is welcome!

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